IN a somewhat subdued National Magazine Awards gala last night at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, the beleaguered industry still managed to relax and enjoy itself for one night as it handed out its 2009 “Ellies” for top magazines.

To be sure, the crowd was noticeably smaller: 650 people turned out compared with 900 a year ago.

And the number of entries was off by about 200, with 1,707 jockeying to win one of the 27 prizes handed out.

In past years, in an effort to jazz up the night, the sponsoring American Society of Magazine Editors had turned it into a black-tie affair. Last night, that requirement was jettisoned.

What’s more, there was no live jazz band to serenade the editors as they entered the auditorium. And the chocolate fondue fountain that was a big hit last year was absent this year.

“Once we eliminated the black tie, we had to eliminate the chocolate fondue fountain,” said Sid Holt, CEO of the American Society of Magazine Editors.

However, not all was lost. The awards ceremony did have some boldface names, including Jimmy Fallon, who opened the night, Steve Earle, who presented the fiction award to David Remnick‘s New Yorker, and Will Arnett, who presented the Personal Service Award to David Granger‘s Esquire.

No magazine dominated, but traditional stalwarts The New Yorker and Esquire tied for the lead with three awards each.

The New Yorker was arguably in a position to dominate the night since it had 10 nominations, including one for general excellence in its category. Still, Remnick seemed happy enough with the three wins, even if he lost the general excellence award to a surprise winner, Field & Stream.

Meanwhile, Esquire won for feature writing, personal service and leisure interests.

Also winning three awards was Wired, for best magazine section, design and general excellence.

In another big upset for the night, Backpacker landed three awards, though just one — for essays — went to the print version of the magazine. The other two went to the online version, for personal service and general excellence.

GQ had eight nominations, including a general excellence nomination, a category that the mag has never managed to win. Jim Nelson, GQ editor-in-chief, ended up carrying home only one award, for photography.

And perhaps the most eyebrow-raising: Reader’s Digest won its first-ever National Magazine Award, for general excellence in the 2 million-plus circulation category, beating Martha Stewart Living, National Geographic, Real Simple and Time magazine.

The unofficial black eye went to Time Inc., the nation’s biggest magazine publisher, which did not have a single magazine in the winners’ circle despite nominations in seven categories.

Adam Moss‘ New York magazine, also a powerhouse winner in past years, snagged just one award this year, for online general excellence.

The other general excellence winners were: Field & Stream (in the 1 million to 2 million circulation category), Wired (500,000 to 1 million circulation), Texas Monthly (250,000 to 500,000), Foreign Policy (100,000 to 250,000) and Print (under 100,000).

In the closely watched reporting category, The New York Times Magazine won for a report by Dexter Filkins about the Taliban and its standing in Pakistan.

Annie Leibovitz, the legendary photographer who has snapped some of the most memorable and controversial magazine covers in history, was given a first-ever Cre ative Excellence Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Time Inc.’s first-quarter results are going down as perhaps the publishing giant’s worst in its history.

That was the assessment of longtime observers this week after the Time Warner unit that publishes People, In Style and Sports Illustrated swung to an operating loss of $32 million from operating income of $93 million a year earlier. Revenue sank to $806 million from just over $1 billion.

Time Inc. is a bellwether in magazine publishing, as it is the industry’s biggest and, until recently, the most profitable. However, since the recession has sapped advertising dollars from magazines, the company has stumbled, and last year slashed 600 jobs to bring its worldwide total to 9,500.

“I think it is unavoidable that they are going to have to fire people, a lot of people,” said one Time Inc. observer.

Added another, “They could easily fire another 1,000 people. The only magazines making serious money in the entire place are People and Sports Illustrated.”

A Time Inc. spokeswoman said, “We’re always looking at our cost structure, but there are no plans at this time for any wide layoffs.” People is believed to be responsible for about half the division’s revenues.

Time Inc. got slammed par ticularly hard by a series of factors in the first quarter, including a 30-percent decline in advertising revenue, as eight of the company’s top-10 ad categories contracted. Subscription revenue also suffered during the quarter, falling by $58 million.

The fight earlier this year between magazine publishers and the companies that distribute them, which in the industry are known as wholesalers, also hurt results.

Time Inc. said it was forced to take an $18 million writedown as a result of its magazines not reaching retailers like Wal-Mart and Walgreen after it pulled copies of its titles from distribution by wholesaler Anderson News, which tried in February to impose a 7-cent surcharge on every magazine copy it brought to retailers.

Perhaps most discouraging of all to Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, is that the big bet it made on its digital strategy is stalling. While digital revenue now accounts for 15 percent of overall revenue — more than any other major publisher — it came as a result of a decline in print revenue.

“He wasn’t a revenue generator,” said one source. “You need a big banger at the top.”

While the mag experienced something of an editorial uptick in terms of single-copy sales over the past six months, and the Web site saw a rise in traffic, EW has been dogged by persistent rumors that the print version might fold, thanks to a 34 percent decline in ad pages through the April 17 issue.

Profits had dropped to $10 million last year after reach ing $50 million in 2006.

Donaton apparently got the word Wednes day morning. He was travelling with his fam ily and could not be reached for comment.

Paul Caine, the head of the style and entertainment group which includes EW, said he planned to name a replacement soon. This time, he is expected to pick a more traditional ad director-type executive for the role.

Pay Cut

How’s this for a surprise? When the employees of Wenner Media picked up their paychecks yesterday they had a 1.9 percent pay cut for the rest of the year — plus five more days off.

The staffers at Us Weekly were said to be particularly infuriated because they feel their magazine — which contributed more than $100 million in profit to Wenner Media last year on revenue of over $400 million — is being used to subsidize other titles like Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone.

Insiders said that apparently top editors and publishers were not told of the impending cut, so they were blindsided when their angry employees began complaining.

Grumbled an insider, “Next we expect [Wenner] to try to install pay toilets in the bathrooms.”

But the pain didn’t stop there. Wenner also axed five editorial staffers at Men’s Journal late yesterday.

“It’s on life support,” said one insider. “Jann is just too arrogant to close it down.”

A spokesman confirmed that the cuts were made, but said it was because fewer people are required to produce the magazine. keith.kelly@nypost.com